No need to go out for this though, it’s easy to make at home, especially with a slow cooker! 10 minutes prep, slow cook for hours, then shred with a couple of forks. Perfect for tacos, burritos, tostadas, tamales, or even a taco salad.

There are three elements to perfect shredded chicken—the chicken, the rub, and the sweetness. For the chicken we use skinless chicken thighs because they have more internal fat, more flavor, and they hold up better to long slow cooking than breasts.

For the rub we are using chili powder, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, allspice, cayenne, onion and garlic powder, and salt. Spices vary by brand and age so you may need to experiment to get the right mix for you.

The “secret sauce” of this shredded chicken recipe is the addition of pineapple juice. Not only does pineapple juice add sweetness (needed for balance of flavors), it helps tenderize the chicken, making it even easier to shred. Pineapple is the essential ingredient in “tacos al pastor”, it works great with this shredded chicken.

Finally, it always helps to have an endorsement from an unsuspecting guest. My father dropped by for a taste and declared that it was excellent pulled pork. When I pointed out that it was indeed chicken, he couldn’t have been more surprised!

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Taco Meat Recipe

We're using boneless chicken thighs because they're easier to shred, and you don't end up with stray bits of hard cartilage in your shredded chicken. If you use bone-in chicken thighs, increase the amount by 1/4 pound and once the meat is done, cut away the bones before shredding the meat.

I recommend not removing the excess fat that comes with skinless chicken thighs. You'll need it to help keep the chicken from drying out and to help make it more flavorful. Please do use skinless thighs, otherwise you'll have way too much fat.

If the shredded chicken is a bit liquidy, don't worry. The chicken will absorb back more of the liquid as it sits, especially if you make ahead and chill.

Ingredients

The rub:

2 Tbsp chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled fine between your hands

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice (can sub a scant pinch of ground cloves)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne (optional, add more or less depending on how much heat you want)

The chicken:

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (do not remove excess fat)

6 ounces (3/4 cup) pineapple juice

2 Tbsp tomato paste

The rest:

Corn tortillas

Finely shredded cabbage

Thinly sliced radishes

Chopped avocado

Cilantro

Lime wedges

Method

1 Coat chicken with rub, place in slow cooker: Whisk the rub ingredients together in a bowl. Dredge the boneless skinless chicken thighs in the rub. Place the chicken thighs in a slow cooker.

2 Add pineapple juice, tomato paste: Pour the pineapple juice over the chicken. Add the tomato paste to the juice.

3 Cover and slow cook: Cover and cook in the slow cooker for 3 hours on high setting or 6 hours on low.

4 Shred chicken meat with forks: When the chicken is done, it should be fork tender. Use two forks to shred the meat completely in the slow cooker bowl.

Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. If you wish to republish this recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own unique words and link back to Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Taco Meat on Simply Recipes. Thank you!

Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.

92 Comments / Reviews

Your comment may need to be approved before it will appear on the site. Thanks for waiting. First time commenting? Please review the Comment Policy.

Greg

I made this recipe as per instructed, except for cooking in a pressure cooker instead of a crockpot. The meat definately came out moist and tender. The down side, in both my wife’s and my opinion, was, that the cinnamon and allspice, even at the low amounts called for (and I even used less than called for), made this recipe confusing as a southwest dish for tacos or burritos. It also had an odd sweet taste (which other reviewers seemed to like). I suppose this was due to the pineapple juice, which is a really sweet juice. I don’t think I’ll be making it again, but if I did, I would definately leave out the cinnamon and the all spice and figure out what to substitute for the pineapple juice. I might also add some onions to the mix. I sauted a red onion, green and red peppers, and a pablano chili and added to the burrito, which was a good addition to this dish, along with shredded cheese, sour cream and avacado. Thanks for submitting this recipe Ms. Bauer. It was creative and unique and obviously all the other people who submitted reviews loved it. I was just looking for more of an authentic mexican flavor. It’s fun trying out new recipes.

xxxxxyyyyy

November 3, 2018

Chris

This recipe has been a staple of my food prep for past almost 2 years. In meantime I switched from slow cooker to instant pot. Comes out just as good but much faster. Thank you for this recipe it’s my favorite.

xxxxxyyyyy

September 3, 2018

Amy

I used to cook this in the oven (350F, 1hr). Now that I got an instant pot, I pressure cook it for 13-15 minutes and NPR. Always awesome and doesn’t heat up my apartment. We love it!

xxxxxyyyyy

August 1, 2018

Mari M

Excellent and easy — receives rave reviews at our place! Add a little smoked paprika for a slightly smokey edge. We’ll make it again and again. Thanks for a terrific recipe.

xxxxxyyyyy

July 16, 2018

Lisa K

This is my go-to recipe for feeding a crowd. I’ve made it many times and passed it along to many friends. It is easy and people always like it. Great recipe!